"Talkin' Story" with Mr. Sal Glesser

[Sonorum]

A wonderful thread which I will follow. I'm not the man Sal is but I find what he says to be inspiring and sometimes making me a better person. I think of this often, to quote from memory: "Integrity is doing the right thing even when no one is watching."

Who knew getting in to the knife hobby could make you a better person?

[yablanowitz]

Hey Jack, and Higher for starting it and bringing it back up.

The history of the model variations is quite prolific. I started a Police display for the store back in 2019, then my assistant moved out of state. Have a new assistant, but Covid has kept both of us out of the office. ( Well, she also had a baby ).

When we get back to some normalcy, We'll get that going. It will be difficult to snag them all, and the aftermarket mods like the "Earthling".

The Police was always one of my preferred carry's. I like the size. Laws have changed, but I still carry a P4 quite a bit.

What's the possibility f starting a list to crab all f the models?

1984 - First Police model. All Stainless scales. It was designed at the request of a LEO that loved the cutting power of the "Mariner", but wanted one with a point. So the design was the result of that request. I thought to call it "LaSal", but thought that was way too much ego, So we called it the Police Model, because of the request, and engraved Pride Integrity Guts on the blade with the PG larger and darker.

It is our oldest running model.

sal

[cabfrank]

Jeff, thank you for assembling this thread. I love listening to sal.

[James Y]

Awesome thread!!

Jim

[JRinFL]

Great thread!

Sal needs to write a history of Spyderco and related tales. It's not ego, it's history.

[bearrowland]

Jeff, here's mine:

The CoPilot was one of my early designs that was legal for airline travel. We actually had a couple, that were also writers, actually fly to Africa with their CoPilots, hunted and skinned the game with them, flew back with them on the plane and wrote an article about it. (History for Barry).

[abbazaba]

Thank you!

[Ramonade]

Thanks, I love reading these when they naturally occur, or when I find myself going through 10 to 15 years old threads on a knife I'm passionate about !

It's so late here but it's gonna be a good read while hand sanding my Mule handle tomorrow morning !

[Manixguy@1994]

Great thread Jeff . Dan

[yablanowitz]

From a thread at Bladeforums

Wow 5-by-5,

Nice shape for a knife 38 years old. The thread certainly has spurred old memories.

"Talkin' Story:

We had introduced our serrated "Mariner" model and serrated "Rescue" model. ('82 / '83) The "Mariner" version was made with AUS-8 (Aichi) because of its better corrosion resistance and the "Rescue" model was made with Gingami 1, (Hitachi, marked G2) because of it more aggressive cutting and edge retention.

Law Enforcement was using the model and asked us to create a model that had the cutting power of the serrated sheepfoot, but with an point. That's how the original Police model came to be. After I finished the design, Gail and spent many hours trying to make the decision to engrave the blade with "PIG". It seemed like a good idea at the time, but a bad decision on something so radical can kill a model. As it turned out, we took the plunge. (That's kinda been our style).

After dealing with prototypes , etc. We tooled up and made the model with a mid lock back for easy one hand closing. We were still giving Harvey McBurnette and Al Mar credit for the development of the mid lock back, which we used with Al Mar's permission. (We've since found an earlier piece to the puzzle, thanx to Brian Huegel, and we bought it. For another thread that Brian and I can share).

The first shipment came in Maybe 2-300 both plain and serrated. Gail and I had devised a test for testing the locks (which later became known as "Spine wack". We found that the pieces defeated consistently. The maker was upset that we would do such a test, and more upset that we had already put them on a plane back to them. We were new working together and had to learn each other. To their credit, they repaired every piece to pass our lock test. Sometimes you have to rub a "Yin" stone and a "Yang" stone together until they're smooth.

We're still working with the same maker today. More than 40 years. I worked with the grandfather and the father and my son (Eric) works with the grandson. We were both strong minded, so we had our "Discussions". they made all of Al Mar's early models. Al introduced me to them. (Al was a great man. he raised the bar for the entire industry, and this was the maker "family" that made his knives).

The current Police Model is our longest continuously running design, though it has changed a great deal over the years from the original "PIG" to the "Police 4 FRN". Some thoughts to share.

I think Jack (Yab) has them all.

sal

[Bill1170]

This is a wonderful thread. The anecdotes shared by Sal give good insight into his heart and mind.

[z1r]

I think that first I should say that some of the knives that you/me/we might consider Ethnic series were not designated as such when they were made. Hindsight does indicate that they should be included. Perhaps we can develop a list here. I started one once before but was hijacked.

"Talkin' story" is always fun.

Since the Shabaria just dropped, I'll start there, though many here know the story. Eduard Bradichanski was a Russian immigrant that resettled in Israel. He was a model maker by trade and a custom knife maker as a hobby. He showed me his folding version of the Shabaria, and I had not heard of the knife before. after visiting several museums and seeing some collections, I learned that the Shabaria was a common design in the Jordan valley beginning in 203 AD. In fact, when we introduced the design, many of the knife "experts" had also not heard of the design and some interesting discussions followed. I have one that I brought back and right now it's "lost" in one of the boxes in my office. When Ii find it, I'd like to make a brochure showing the originals and the Spyderco version. Mike began the project years ago, but I couldn't find the originals. :o

Eduard also designed the Original credit card model. He was assassinated in the west bank by Hamas before his models were released. They burned his body and his car and he was identified by the prototypes of the Shabaria and the credit card knife, which he was carrying at the time. He was survived by his wife and 2 sons. We still send royalties to the family when we make a sprint.

sal.

Wow! If another sprint drops, I'll buy just because of the royalties!

[Spicy Suplex]

Wow! If another sprint drops, I'll buy just because of the royalties!

Took the words right out of my fingers.

[JSumm]

Sal discussing the Pride Series.

"Talking Story"

When I came up with the idea to make a series of knives that could be sold in Airports like the international spoons available in most airports, I thought it was a great innovation. I designed a slip-joint model of a blade length that would be available and legal all over the globe. Peter, our R&D manager, worked his *** off and designed all of the custom flags for all of the countries and possible customs, for clubs and other possibilities. We worked with our maker in Seki for quite a while to develop the design. We thought we had a winner! Just goes to show.

After we tooled up to the model and ordered all of the flags to be used, 9/11 happened and put the kabosh on our plans. Oh well, you can't win them all.

sal

[JSumm]

An old one that I missed. I think it qualifies.

Hi Wolverine,

Some thoughts to share. It seems that the long time very good makers appreciate the ability to make "crisp" edges. Kind like, "anybody can round the edges, that occurs with lack of skill. making crisp edges is a true test of the skill of the maker". It's interesting to watch these 3rd and 4th generation knifemakers have their "developed" values. (Most will grow their pinky fingernail longer and manicured, like a Sitar player).

I guess it's much easier to take a ceramic stone to the edge if you don't care for it, than to try to make it crisp. We require thumb holes to be crisp, but that's our "developed" value for better traction.

I remember a custom maker in the Guild named Kuzan Oda. He was a Japanese maker that was very skilled. One time at a show, we were talking story and he was complaining that most custom makers weren't skilled enough to make crisp grind lines. He said a grind line should be crisp enough to scratch your fingernail :eek: . Then he picked up one of his custom knives from the table and scraped his fingernail....a tiny curl appeared. I learned something valuable that day.

sal

[JSumm]

Hi Martien,

Thanx much for sharing your thoughts and feelings, and welcome to our forum. Jur was a very special person in our lives for decades and he will be greatly missed. We spent countless hours together all over the the US and Europe and I will never forget him. As one gets older (like me), one thinks much of the past, friends, activities and history which one uses to "measure? one's life.

"Talkin' Story",

Back in the early 90's, we received a telephone call from a customer in Arizona. The call went to our Sales Manager. She couldn't answer the question, so she forwarded the call to me. Turns out the customer was part of the Dutch Air Force, stationed in Arizona. He had just purchased a Bob Terzuola C15 and and he had some questions regarding the model that only I could answer. That guy was Jur.

We had a long enjoyable conversation and that was the birth of a long friendship. Spyderco employed Jur while he was on vacation from the Air Force, to work at the IWA show in Nurnberg as our translator.

After he retired from the Air Force, he became our European representative. He came into the US for Shows, worked shows in Europe, visited customers, and in all was the European face of Spyderco for decades. He will surely be missed.

We enjoyed time with Jur, and his lovely wife Gaby, for many hours, and many years. I have picture of Gaby on my file cabinet, and I will add Jur's as well. Gail felt Gaby was a "sister".

Through Jur, we met great people like Wouter and many others that have been instrumental in the presence of Spyderco throughout Europe. (Just saw Wouter at Spyderco in Golden. He and his family were vacationing in the US and visited the office).

Where ever he went, Jur was liked. A great "face" for Spyderco world wide.

sal

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We are all here for a very short time. "Each of us is born with a little bag of time, that has a hole in the bottom. Time is always spilling out, but one day, one looks into the bag and it is empty". It is critical that we pay attention to each other in the living years. "Appreciate each moment of the Life-Time that we get and strive always to think Happy Thoughts".

[Manixguy@1994]

Best one ever . Dan

[JSumm]

Hi All,

I hope you’ll excuse the shameless sales pitch, but I think it’s more than that. You might think of it as a talkin’ story, your call?

Gail and I have been using a combination of the Murray Carter kitchen knives, both at home in Colorado, and our condo on the island. Along with each set, we use one of the new “Galley V’s” that are set a 10 DPS (20 degrees total).
We use the 5 pc set in one of our Maple blocks. A high line version in Super Blue San Mai in Colorado, where it’s fairly dry and a set of G-10 handled CTS-BD1n on Island, which is very humid. The more we use them, the more we can appreciate Murray’s experience in leading to the designs, and the thin flat execution of the designs.

Murray and I go back more than a decade. I’ve watched his development here in the US Since he came in from Japan, where he earned his art. (I own one of his Murray Career Folders). He’s a very effective bladesmith, but he’s also an artist. He has created a very effective set of kitchen tools. We have tried to bring you that exceptional refinement at a variety of price points. (Super Blue san Mai, with exotic custom G-10 handles, CTS-BD1n with machined G-10 handles and CTS-BD1n with injection molded handles.

Gail is a skilled chef, I’m often the “cut guy” prepping. We like our edges thinner. Even thinner than “stock”. I use the Galley V with the CBN rods to re-profile to a 10 DPS and I use the ceramic rods for regular maintenance.
It’s an expensive package, but the combination is an effective solution to kitchen prep. I thought to share our personal experience with the combination.

My apologies to any that think I'm being too commercial.

sal

[copfish]

Wow! Great thread! Kuzan was a friend and neighbor. I often drove and interpreted for Kuzan and met Sal through Kuzan. Kuzan tried to teach me knifemaking, but I have no coordination. He did introduce me to some of the greats of the knife world. I’m a big Spyderco fan and gift my new Eagle Scouts with my favorite Spyderco, the Delica. Thanks Sal for a great product and great memories.

[sal]

Hi Copfish,

Welcome to our forum. Thanx much for the memory trip, interest and support across the years.

Interesting tag line. I just bought a book of the works of Archilochus.

sal